Bomb-threat Muslim cleric to address TDs

Dr Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, Syria’s most senior cleric, has threatened Europe and the US with suicide attacksLOUAI BESHARA/GETTY IMAGES

Syria’s most senior Muslim cleric, who vowed to unleash suicide bombers living in Europe and the US if there was Western intervention in the country’s conflict, will speak in the Oireachtas today.

Dr Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun, the Grand Mufti of Syria, and a close ally of President Bashar al-Assad, is part of a delegation which has been invited to address the foreign affairs committee about EU sanctions on the country. As Grand Mufti, Dr Hassoun issues fatwas — interpretations of Islamic law.

The Irish Syria Solidarity Movement, a group which supports the uprising against President Assad, has condemned the invitation. The group claimed the cleric’s extreme views were made clear in a warning against international intervention on Syrian television in 2011, when the Assad government…